Pianist plays two sides of Liszt

Jon Nakamatsu joins the Des Moines Symphony for a rare pairing.

Nov. 30, 2012

Pianist Jon Nakamatsu. / Special to the Register

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Des Moines Symphony

WHEN: 7:30 tonight and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. A free preconcert talk with Arlene DeVries begins 45 minutes before each performance, in the east lobby. WHERE: Civic Center of Greater Des Moines, 221 Walnut St. TICKETS: $15-$55, with half-price and rush tickets for students INFO:www.dmsymphony.org

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When Jon Nakamatsu won the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition — the Olympics of the piano world — in 1997, he was the first American to take home the gold medal since 1981. No other American has won since.

He promptly quit his job as a high school German teacher in San Jose, Calif., his hometown, and hit the concert circuit, which first brought him to the Civic Center in 1999. Back then, he knocked out a little Mozart with the Des Moines Symphony. Tonight and Sunday, he’ll join them again for Liszt’s first and second piano concertos, a rare pairing.

“I’ve never done both on the same program,” he said. “It’ll be a nice way of hearing two really difficult pieces of Liszt, one very virtuosic and the other very not.”

The Hungarian composer Franz Liszt was the most famous pianist of his time (1811-1886), and pushed music into new territory with each new advance in piano technology. He continually revised his first two concertos long before and after their premieres, in 1855 and 1857. The first is flashy. The second is more subdued, requiring the pianist to fit into the orchestra instead of hogging the spotlight.

“The second is a little more perplexing, because it seems so fragmented,” Nakamatsu said.

But that’s not all bad.

“In an era when instant gratification and short attention spans are the norm, this type of music, where sections of emotion are juxtaposed against things with total contrast, might appeal to someone who isn’t used to focusing on one line from beginning to end,” he said. “You can’t listen to it and not be moved by how much is going on at any given moment.”

Nakamatsu has performed several solo and chamber concerts in Des Moines since his first visit in 1999. His performances this weekend are part of a program that also includes Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony (No. 4) and music from Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel.”